Focus on Dorian Concept

The debut album When Planets Explode from Dorian Concept is set for release next week In fact Rush Hour has it on stock already! A lot has been written about the young Austrian producer, for whom 2008 was clearly a breakthrough in his musical career. His tracks have received massive airplay by the likes of Benji B, Jay Scarlett and of course Gilles Peterson, and in just one year his music got released through three different labels. Today, I want to take a look back and focus on the early material, hoping to give you a complete image.

If you have absolutely no idea about whom I’m talking here, you might want to start by watching some of the videos Dorian has recorded at his home, on which he is “fooling around” on various Korg synthesizers, the Alesis Micron or the toy-ish Casio SA-21. Dorian Concept is part of a new wave of electronic hip-hop producers, which is represented by the likes of Flying Lotus, Prefuse 73, Dabrye, Hudson Mohawke, Nosaj Thing or Dimlite. He took piano lessons from a very young age, and now, in his early twenties, masters synthesizers like no other.

His first official release dates back to 2004, on the small (now defunct) Viennese label Vitamine Source. What followed are the digital EPs Nouns and the Relevance of Wood (2005 on Project 168) and Seek When Is Her (2006 on Earstroke), both available as free downloads. It’s this latter release which gained wider attention and eventually lead to the TrebleO Beat Tape on Domu‘s then newly founded label.

Also in 2006, Dorian and the Italians Mickey Eats Plastic swap tracks to remix each other. The outcome are three remixes which are available for download. Not to forget the remix of Paradigm Shift, a track from the Soulhack album by SoundCloud founder Forss.

Unfortunately, I haven’t yet experienced Dorian Concept in a concert, but there are multiple videos on YouTube and several live-recordings I can recommend. One of the more recent recordings is from the Gilles Peterson Worldwide Awards, bits from the concert have been featured on both the radioshow and the podcast. I also want to mention the lovely Jazz to Spaz mixtape made for Mondayjazz, featuring tracks from Alice Coltrane, Miles Davis, Roy Ayers, Funkadelic, but also Squarepusher, Boards of Canada, Dabrye and Four Tet.

So, that’s a lot of stuff to go through already, and I don’t want to repeat myself on the remixes he made, the jazz session or the outcome from the RBMA. I want to finish this article with a recollection of the physical releases from Dorian so far. Back in August 2008, there was a 7-inch with Sam Irl on Bonzzaj Records, followed by an EP on Affine Records, and the teaser to his debut album. Single tracks are also available on Here Comes Treble and Jay Scarlett‘s Circulations compilation, remixes have been made for Fulgeance and Waxolutionists. For Swedish singer Kissey Asplund, Dorian has produced her Silverlake EP.

Apart from the debut album on Nod Navigators, the first release under the Fyrd alias is also expected this year on Aber Records.